Don't look behind you...

Aster nervously looked around. Usually, the royal guard was in Canterlot, saving kittens and helping elder ponies cross the street. ( Even this was intimidating for the young guard.) Not today, though. This time, he was in the city of thieves, practically teeming with crime. Manehattan. And, he was finally going to prove he was a great royal guard. He could fend of the bad guys just as good as anyone... else. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He could see other ponies giving him odd looks, and he gave them all confused smiles. What did he do to make them all so angry? Was it the armor? Puzzled, he continued, until he came to a dark alley. Suddenly, the pegasus halted.

" Hello?" he called, cocking his head.Did I just hear hoofsteps behind me? Slightly scared, he turned around, prepared to run. Then he felt a painful whack on his head,a frightened yelp, probably coming from himself, and everything went black.

"Buck." Topo Rifiuti said as the guard fell on his face.

"Buck buckity buckity bucking buck." She didn't mean to kill the stupid shmuck! She glanced at the rock she thought it would be really funny if she threw. It was a little more than a pebble! A pretty big pebble...

T sucked in some air through her teeth, making an agitated hissing noise. This was pretty bad. It was worse than bad! It was... SUPER BAD.

"H-Hey." She said as she levitated a stick next to the guard's head. "Hey!" She poked it a couple of times, then looked around nervously. Somepony was bound to notice the shiny gold looking thing sooner or later! The street rat always overheard of ways the local mafia liked to dispose of bodies... Cement shoes, woodchippers, the few crazy ponies who like to eat 'Hamburgers'.

"well sheeeeet..." She sighed and sat down on the shiny golden armor of the pony. "Think T! think think think..."

The guard gave an unintelligible groan, and rubbed his head. He blinked, and attempted to get up, only to realize something was on him... something... alive.

Aster turned around, and looked at a blurry figure, and mumbled " Whoa... why are there... six of-" he suddenly stopped in midsentence, staring at the ragamuffin sitting on him, and let out a high pitched, terrified, squeal.

" AAGGHHHHH!!!!"

((Hopefully y'all don't mind if I just kind of barge in here))

~~~OC: Suspicious Package~~~

Package was sitting at a nearby bench when the guard came by. He watched the newly arrived pony suspiciously to make sure he hadn't been followed from the museum, but pretty soon he was simply observing the other stallion for a source of entertainment.

He was definitely new. Not just new to Manehattan's security force, but new to the Guard in general. It looked like someone in upper management had forgotten to put him through boot camp, or any training at all for that matter, putting him on duty there without a single word of forewarning. And the results were quite funny and equally good for someone like Package.

Although a part of his mind scolded him for doing so, he found it especially funny when the guard fell down flat on his face from a small rock that had hit him in the back of his head. Something like that would have simple annoyed (or infuriated, if they were from Manehattan) anyone else, but not this one. Must be really on edge to react like that. Within seconds of this happening, Package laid eyes on the cause of the humorous assault: a small filly who had been hiding in the shadows.

She seemed to be quite fearful of what she had done, probably thought she had killed the poor pony. This made Package chuckle to himself. She poked the downed guard a few times with a stick, provoking some movement. The more prominent response, however, was a high pitched squeal that emanated from the stallion.

With a grin on his face, Package got up from his bench and began to walk over to the misfit and corresponding victim.

As a high pitched, terrified squeal erupted from the guard, Topo let out a short little squeak as she jumped up and wheeled around, grinning.

"Thanks! you just saved me a whole lotta trouble!" She laughed uneasily. "Uh... want some help up, Guy?" Not because she wanted to, but because it was probably the wisest thing to do (Topo sometimes has a problem picking the 'wisest' decision).

As she started to help the runt of a guard, she looked him up and down. "Hm..." the young filly saw plenty of guards in her short little life, but never one so... small. "Ya look a little tiny to be a guard..." She adjusted her raggedy little plaid scarf and her equally dirty hat.

She glanced at the pony that was currently walking towards them. If she saw him around she didn't remember him off the top of his head, but he looked like a pony from around the slums. She sniffed a bit. Daddy always said that tourists were harmless, its the locals you should look out for. Especially the Guards. Just to be safe, the filly's horn started to very very faintly glow as she 'called out' to all the rats in the alley. Topo found a couple in a dumpster and a few more scattered about.

Although she was iffy about this stallion, for some reason, she was pretty sure the guard (aster) was harmless.

"Ya look a little tiny to be a guard..." the pony said.

After a closer look, he could see it appeared to be a young female filly. He relaxed slightly, but continued to tremble. There seemed to be another stallion here. The guard watched with wide eyes as the filly's horn glowed, and rats started to crawl towards her. The pegasus squeaked in terror at the small rodents, and hovered nervously above the ground.

" Don't eat me!" he blurted out.

The filly spoke some words to the grounded stallion, and then looked over at Package, wordlessly staring at him. He looked back with a friendly expression and genuine smile on his face, pretending not to notice the faint, barely discernible aura that appeared around the small Unicorn's horn. Smart kid. Must be a local.

The Pegasus guard had a fairly different reaction to the situation, however. He simply jumped about three feet in the air with another squeal, and stayed there in midair through the use of his wings. Staring at the ground, he blurted out a somewhat incomprehensible exclamation.

"Don't eat me!"

Package stopped only a handful of feet from the other two ponies, and, after looking around for a second or two, saw what had caused it: on the floor of the alleyway were a few rats. The stallion simply grinned, retaining a laugh. He spoke to the two strangers.

"Hey, there. You two need help with somethin'? I noticed Goldie here was freakin' out about somethin'."

Aster looked nervously at the stallion. He seemed nice, nor did he seem interested in eating him. He relaxed, and regained himself, adjusting his lopsided helmet.

" Actually, I was looking for some crime! Because... you know... that's my, uh job!" he said, puffing up his chest. He felt slightly uneasy about his plan, which had at first seem flawless. He always seemed to find a way to mess them up. The guard gave the rats another horrified look, and gulped.

The rats (numbering to about ten or so) milled about Topo, squeaking excitedly. One ran up her tail and squeaked into her ear, pointing at Aster with irritation.

T looked up at the pegasus. "My rat bros aint gunna hurt ya, so you can come on down."

The second the filly looked back at the stranger, the rats, all in unison, looked too. "They're all really well trained." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, there. You two need help with somethin'? I noticed Goldie here was freakin' out about somethin'."

Whoever this guy was, he was most certainly a local. Slang and all. "Welp..." Topo started. "I'm fine." She pointed up at the guard hovering overhead. "This Shmuck may have a konkushin ((or in the common tongue, Concussion)) or somethin." She tapped the ground and bit her lip. "He... uh... hit his head. On a rock. Really hard. Probably don' remember stuff too good."

" Actually, I was looking for some crime! Because... you know... that's my, uh job!"

Topo contained a giggle. "Yup... Pfff... certainly hit his head reeeeeal good."

((Must be hard to puff out your chest while hovering...))

"Actually, I was looking for some crime! Because...you know...that's my, uh, job!"

Package chuckled a bit to himself. He liked this guy. The filly was slightly freaky, though, with her rat...pets... He wasn't gonna judge her based on some kind of spell, though. He tended to like kids, he'd probably get to like her as well.

"Welp... I'm fine. This Shmuck may have a konkushin or somethin'. He...uh...hit his head. On a rock. Really hard. Probably don' remember stuff too good. Yup... Pfff... certainly hit his head reeeeeal good."

Package chuckled to himself once again, still ignoring the rats that were staring at him to accompany the filly's gaze. "Well, nice tuh see there's someone in this city willin' to help out a guard with a tenduncy to crash into rocks." He paused for a seconds, and then remembered something. "Oh hey, you." He nodded towards the guard. "You new aroun' here? Can't say ah've ever seen you before."

( Yeah, that doesn't really make sense, does it?)

" You could say that..." the young guard mumbled.

" I'm, uh, usually in Canterlot, but um..." his eyes darted from the rats, to the filly, to the other stallion, and he blurted out

" But, uh... I was sent here b-because... they said I was so tough, I needed... to... um... be here," he lied awkwardly. He didn't want these ponies to think he wasn't tough, but they didn't seem very convinced of his... toughness. Not that he had any.

" But, uh... I was sent here b-because... they said I was so tough, I needed... to... um... be here,"

One of the rats burst into high pitched chittering laughter. Soon all the ten rats were rolling on the floor squeaking and pointing at the Pegasus. T tried desperately to hush them.

"Shhhh! Shaddap! Ya guys're being a bunch of turds!" Her horn naturally pulsed with a little magic, and the rats fell silent, except with a couple disgruntled squeaks.

She stared at Aster for a second before letting out a little childish giggle. "I'm sure ya're the cream of the crop o' Canterlot..."

T gave the Native Manehattanite a sideways glance. He seemed pretty cordial, but that could just be a cover or a trick or something. But... maybe if he was a criminal or something... Topo thought of the nights her father 'forgot' to eat dinner so she could have something, anything to eat.

She occasionally saw the bigwig mobsters in their classy carriages and velvet suits and three story penthouse suites. If she could get a little taste of the pie that was organized crime...

Topo glanced back at the guard. Maybe she should find a more legitamet line of work. Her father would absolutely hate for her to be in any danger, and it would be nice to earn her meals honestly for a change.

Things to think about for another time.

((@DeSanta: That was a beautiful little piece of conflict right there. I applaud you very muchly for it.))

Seeing that the filly was less distrustful of him at the moment, Package came a bit closer to the two ponies as the guard spoke.

"You could say that... I'm, uh, usually in Canterlot, but um... But, uh... I was sent here b-because... they said I was so tough, I needed... to... um... be here..."

The rats that had been drawn to the young filly all burst out laughing, falling to the ground and squeaking manically at the other stallion's words. Woah. Weird. I didn't know rats could laugh... Huh. With a threatening glow of her horn, the filly shut the rats up, speaking her own response with a giggle.

"I'm sure ya're the cream of the crop o' Canterlot..."

She looked between Package and the guard a few times, seemingly contemplating something, as the Pegasus spoke to the two strangers.

"Hey, so what are y'als' names? Mine's..." He caught himself before he spoke his true name, remembering that he was speaking with a guard, even if it was a spineless one. He wasn't concerned about the guard himself, but the smaller number of ponies in the guard that could associate his face with his name the better. As for the filly, if she had heard of his nickname then she'd probably know by then to keep quiet. "Rex. Great tuh meet ya."

( Sorry for late reply! I've got to stop doing that, XD)

Aster turned red, and his eyes widened at the rats laughed. Somehow watching a rodent laughing was extremely disturbing. He slowly backed away, now on the ground, and bit his lip as they continued to laugh.

"Hey, so what are y'als' names? Mine's..." the pony suddenly stopped in midsentence.

"Rex. Great tuh meet ya."

" Hi there... Rex! I'm uh- A-aster!" he replied. The pegasus wasn't certain he liked these ponies. To be honest, he felt the younger one was a bit creepy, with her odd rats. Rex seemed ok for the most part, but you never know. Then again, if they weren't attacking him, eating him, or trying to strangle him, how bad could they be?